Botany
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- Determine the factors responsible for the declines of
critically endangered species.
- Determine
their current population status, population structure, rates of
recruitment and mortality, and key threat factors contributing to their
rarity, failure to increase, or continued decline.
- Search
former sites and nearby potential habitat for "lost" species, for which
we have no recent records, which are almost certainly endangered and
could even be extinct.
- Establish permanent monitoring sites to track population
declines or increases.
- Develop
scientifically based management plans to ensure the long-term survival
of these species, including protocols for endangered plant species that
can be used elsewhere in Ecuador and the world.
- Train an Ecuadorian team to continue this work.
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- More broadly, the project could become a
model for other endangered species conservation programmes in other
parts of the world, especially other oceanic archipelagos, with which
contacts will be established.
- Ecotourism is the major
economic activity in Galapagos. It is the biggest direct employment
sector, as well as supporting the majority of the population by
providing jobs in the support and services sector. In addition, 10% of
the population of Galapagos have their family's main earner working
directly in conservation. Ecotourism is also one of the top four
foreign exchange earners for Ecuador. Through this conservation work,
we shall be helping to provide and protect jobs for Ecuadorian
nationals, in the most ecologically sustainable major employment
sectors in the Province.
- The work will have a lasting impact
on Galapagos plant conservation in assisting the establishment of a new
permanent research, monitoring and restoration programme for threatened
plant species rather than working piecemeal.
- One component
of this will be the training of a Galapagos resident scientist of
Ecuadorian nationality, who is a permanent Charles Darwin Research
Station staff member, as well as providing the necessary equipment for
the programme's establishment.
- The project will also serve
to raise the profile of threatened plants in Galapagos, thereby leading
to continued interest in maintaining the programme in the future.
- The
project will leave local institutions with a legacy of highly trained
local personnel, improved facilities and information resources, and a
network of international contacts.
- It focuses on a survey
for "lost" species, research to identify threat factors, and planning
for survival and restoration of endangered species.
- It begins a comprehensive, integrated conservation
programme for Galapagos threatened plants.
- Three Ecuadorian undergraduate students, will each work for
18 - 24 months on their theses.
- Twelve Ecuadorian undergraduate students will each receive
6 months on-the-job training in conservation biology and management.
- One
Ecuadorian project staff member will receive c. 10 weeks training in
seed-bank management and ex situ conservation at the Royal Botanic
Garden, Kew.
- Ecuadorian staff will receive continuous training and
guidance from the British Project Leader.
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